Jakarta - or how to cross a street safely in Indonesia?

Foillsichte: 01.09.2018

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We arrived in Jakarta late in the evening and went to the hotel accompanied by our tour guide, who gave us some tips for activities in Jakarta. We also got a first impression of the traffic in Indonesia - sometimes it was advisable to focus on the tour guide and not to look out the windshield to avoid getting scared.

Moped driver in front of the Palace of Freedom

The next morning, we wanted to explore the area around our hotel on foot, which was located in the center near the National Monument.

First, we needed some money and wanted to go to the ATM. It was located on the opposite side of the street diagonally across from our hotel. And so withdrawing cash presented us with the first challenge in Indonesia: we had to cross the street. We had to pass cars and especially mopeds driving wildly and honking. If you want to wait for a gap, you unfortunately have to wait a long time, so you sometimes have to venture onto the street and hope that the other road users will slow down or at least swerve.

Courtyard of the Istiqlal Mosque

We wanted to go to theIstiqlal Mosque, which is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia and can accommodate 20,000 worshipers. However, we had to cross a road with four lanes (theoretically at least - in practice sometimes more vehicles drove alongside each other). That's why we were relieved when we saw a pedestrian traffic light. We pressed the button, waited, and were delighted when the traffic light for cars turned red. Unfortunately, the cars and mopeds just kept going. Here, too, only a determined look and a courageous step onto the street helped. Then, indeed, everyone stopped - at least until we had passed them. There was almost a rear-end collision because a car braked for us. The driver behind the red traffic light hadn't expected that.

So we finally arrived at the mosque, which we could visit with guidance and which impressed mainly because of its size.

Right across the street, you could visit a neo-gothic Catholic church, whose architectural style strongly resembled European cathedrals, but was actually built in the early 20th century.

On the way, we also encountered a Protestant church, which was a large dome-shaped building. Unfortunately, it was located in a curve on the other side of the street, so we limited ourselves to viewing it from the outside to avoid the need to cross the street...

We continued past the Liberation Monument, which depicts a person breaking free from chains, towards the National Monument on Freedom Square.

The huge flame on a marble obelisk was built in 1961 by Sukarno, who wanted to create a monument himself to commemorate the liberation from Dutch colonial rule.

Some claim that he built an oversized phallic symbol that would suit his fondness for the female sex...